Reasonable people don't hold them to impossible standards though. I can understand a mentality where they'd rather be conservative in their production, rather than run the risk of overproducing and being saddled with a bunch of unsold hardware. Considering that people like you constantly bitch about Nintendo making people pay for '30 year old games that they can just emulate', why *would* they assume there would be massive demand?

It's easy to criticize from a position of hindsight, especially when you make a habit of it.

Shortages are understandable. But the insane undershipping they are doing with these items is obscene. Every hot ticket item sells out. But they are missing the mark by such a huge degree with this thing. If you max out your production and sell all your stock you aren't incompetent. Do you seriously think that is what Nintendo did here? If you do then there is nothing left to say and if you don't then you agree with me.

They did max out their production by all reports. That's how you end up with production issues. Remember your initial snarky comment?

Unless you're going to argue that they had the *potential* to manufacture more, which is basically true of anything . You can always build another manufacturing facility and buy up more supplies. It's a rather pointless argument to be making though, because that effectively means 'max production' is only constrained by planetary limits.

I don't have any. Just as you don't have any proof that they underestimated demand aside from their own statement which is PR. Skepticism isn't a claim of fact. They said it was a production issue, I'm skeptical of that given their track record as of late.

It only takes a few seconds to realize that the concept of forced scarcity is preposterous. And for it to even have been a possibility, product would have to have been waiting in the wings to slowly drip feed out to take advantage of the false demand, which, as far as I know, has never been the case. Nintendo is simply conservative with product.

You literally trying to shame me when I changed my position in the face of new evidence?

You should try it some time. It would do you a world of good.

But whatever. I see no reason to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt on this issue.

We know the number from your article. 1.5 million sold WW. You honestly think that Nintendo couldn't make more or that they didn't think more than that would sell? Please. Before all we knew were that 3DS were scarce. Once the actual facts came in I happily rethought my position.

This is an article about how new product is coming for people eager to buy it. It was posted as news. The strategy is working because it is noteworthy that they are available for sale again. This is more exposure than they would've otherwise had if they had just met demand. People will see these things and be more inclined to buy them because they knew they were rare. If the demand was at say 5 million and they had enough to accommodate that at launch then everyone who wants one gets one. If they only ship 2 million and 3 million still want it it creates this aura of desirability around the product and brand. They can they wait and let the reports about how in demand it is and then just ship another 3 million whenever and potentially get more buyers. Either way, though they sell their 5 million the only difference is that there are a lot more eyes on it. The only risk really is some of those 3 million being like 'eh screw it' and they lose a customer.

You honestly think that no one has altered their purchasing habits based on this phenomenon? Nobody bought some amiibo they otherwise wouldn't have because they were rare? That this demand didn't make more people take notice of the NES Mini?

Sure, you'll probably generate a few sales through scarcity. But only by choosing to not sell them to those that actually want them in the first place. Giving up on perfectly good sales to potentially gain a few down the road? Again, with a few seconds of thought, it's a phenomenally stupid business move. And the amiibo thing was even simpler. Of course they produced fewer Marths than Marios, because why wouldn't they? They simply miscalculated the number of people trying to get them all.